Condoleezza Rice

A boast by Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert that he persuaded President Bush to reverse a U.S. vote on a Gaza cease-fire at the United Nations is "just 100% totally completely not true," the State Department declared Tuesday. The rare public dust-up between the Bush administration and the Israeli government was sparked by a speech Olmert gave on Monday.

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert boasted Monday that he successfully pressured President Bush last week to reverse course on U.S. diplomacy over fighting in Gaza, in an episode that could sharpen tensions between the close allies at a sensitive moment. Speaking to an audience in Ashkelon, Israel, Olmert said he had called Bush last Thursday and convinced him that the United States should not vote for a pending U.N. Security Council resolution urging a cease-fire in the Gaza Strip.

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) would make about $4,700 less as secretary of State than her predecessor, Condoleezza Rice. Congress lowered the salary for the nation's top diplomat to keep Clinton's nomination from running afoul of the Constitution. An obscure section on compensation for public officials says no member of Congress can be appointed to a government post if that job's pay was increased during the lawmaker's current term. In other words, Clinton might have been ineligible to serve in the post because she was in Congress when Rice's salary was raised to $191,300.

As Condoleezza Rice completes what likely will be her final swing through the Middle East as America's top diplomat, she leaves behind an unfinished peace process and a lingering debate about whether the Bush administration brought the region any closer to a lasting Israeli-Palestinian accord. The secretary of State's regional tour, her 19th in two years, included a stop Sunday in the Egyptian resort of Sharm el Sheik for an update on the direct Israeli-Palestinian negotiations launched under U.

Senior Bush administration officials held a series of meetings in the White House in 2002 and 2003 to discuss allowing the CIA to use harsh interrogation methods on Al Qaeda detainees, according to a written statement Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice recently provided to Senate investigators.

Thandie NEWTON has garnered way more column inches for a movie she didn't make ("Charlie's Angels") than for any of the 21 already under her petite belt. At 35, she has starred as girlfriend, wife and daughter of Tom Cruise, Will Smith and Oprah Winfrey, respectively, and worked for an international clutch of esteemed directors (Bernardo Bertolucci, John Woo, Jonathan Demme, Neil Jordan, Paul Haggis). But if the universe conspires in her favor, Newton will merit her most expansive and complimentary coverage yet for playing Condoleezza Rice opposite Josh Brolin in “W,” Oliver Stone's George W. Bush biopic out Oct. 17. "I feel a real pull from 'W,' a grief at its having ended," Newton says by phone from her "ramshackle beach house" in Vancouver, Canada, where she is filming the disaster epic "2012" for director Roland Emmerich ("The Patriot")

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Monday dismissed Iran's response to a proposed solution on Tehran's nuclear program in Geneva over the weekend as "small talk" meant to buy time. She warned that new sanctions would be forthcoming if Iran did not comply with international demands to halt or slow its production of enriched uranium. Rice, speaking to reporters in Ireland, said that U.S.

America's chief diplomat found herself vouching for the purity of U.S. cattle Saturday, wading into a bitter trade dispute that for South Koreans has eclipsed the long-running drama over North Korea's nuclear activity and threatened the government of President Lee Myung-bak. Just one day after the communist North demolished the most visible symbol of its nuclear programs, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice faced a barrage of questions about the safety of American steaks, chops and burgers.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Sunday that an Israeli-Palestinian peace pact this year is achievable, but she criticized Israeli settlement activity and pushed for additional removals of West Bank roadblocks. Rice's optimism on an agreement contrasted with more pessimistic assessments voiced by leaders on both sides.

State Department workers improperly snooped in the passport files of all three major presidential candidates, officials said Friday, a disclosure that prompted Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to take the unusual step of delivering a round of personal apologies.